Night Court Eternal
by Thor2000
Summary: Dan Fielding has been dating Harry's cousin the new public defender behind his back, but now changes in the court system might remove her forever from his life.


Daniel Reinhold Fielding had a reason to hold his head high. He had a beautiful woman on his arm and he was happy to have her arm tucked under his as the two of them strolled Park Avenue under the bright glowing sheen of New York City. He had been with a lot of girls in his life and had done things that had impressed even himself in the pursuit of dark carnal desires, but none of them had ever told him that they loved him. No one had until he met Kelly. What had started out as what might have been another wild fling was still going strong and her presence by his side actually made him feel good. Sometimes he felt he didn't deserve her. He looked at her long blonde hair and simple baby doll good looks and felt he wasn't up to her standards and then it hit him. He was in love. The old Dan had matured as he realized that he had actually realized what love truly was and knew he could not live without her. He them gazed over her figure as the Old Dan within him wanted to deflower her all over again.

"You are going to love this place." He held a door to a restraunt open for her. "They have the best Moo Gu Gai Pan…." He then stopped and looked at people eating spaghetti and other guests biting into pizza. The Oriental baskets were gone and so were the Asian decorations and paneling. The scent of oregano was heavy in the air as a maitre'd in a pinstriped suit turned to them. Kelly looked around confused as Dan looked out into the street just as bewildered as her.

"Excuse me," Dan stood a bit perplexed. "Wasn't this place a Oriental restraunt yesterday?"

"Very observant." The maitre'd postured with a bit of Mafia underworld pomposity. "Well, let's just say they could not make it here. Table for two?"

"Please…" Kelly looked at Dan as bewildered as he was. Dan reacted with a bit of nervous apprehension at the gangster-like atmosphere as he hoped he wasn't recognized as the Assistant D.A. He held out Kelly's chair as she sat and then placed himself into a wooden chair and scooted himself further as he loosened his jacket. He looked across to Kelly as the lights radiated from her eyes.

"May I make you an offer you can't refuse?" The maitre'd asked as Dan and Kelly froze. "The veal scampi is excellent; I highly recommend it."

"Not really, Capone…." Dan reacted sarcastically.

"How did you know my name?" The maitre'd reacted. "Have we met?"

"I'll have the Louie Lasagna with a nice chardonnay." Kelly reacted before Dan answered with an ethnic slur about all Italians being members of the mob. "Could I get dressing with my salad?"

"Yes ma'am."

"And I'll take the Spaghetti… Mafia?" Dan stared at the menu. It had to be a misprint, but that's what it said: Spaghetti Mafia as big as life. Further down the same page, the menu also advertised Godfather Pizza and Stool Pigeon Fricassee. Dan giggled a nervous little laugh.

"Drink?"

"I'll have a bit of wine." Dan answered.

"Prohibition-style or House Special?"

"What's the difference?"

"With Prohibition wine, you stand the chance of getting a little smashed." Capone answered with a grin. Dan grinned back with a slight chortle as he decided.

"House Special."

"Very good." Capone took their menus. "I'll be back with the bread and your drinks." He turned and departed as Dan watched him depart. He turned back to Kelly as she relaxed and removed her wrap. She looked around the place a bit comfortable as the sound of old Thirties Jazz played from the next room. Other people at the other tables didn't seem to mind the heavy underworld tone as she shined back to Dan.

"This place isn't so bad." She spoke up. "It's actually sort of nostalgic…"

"If you don't mind your feet in cement and being tossed in the river…" Dan glanced around again. "What ever you do, don't mention we're lawyers…"

"Oh Dan…" Kelly chided him tenderly. "Just being Italian doesn't make you in the mob."

"Is that Al Pacino over there?" Dan asked while Kelly turned round to look at where Dan was pointing. She thought the guy looked like the actor as she turned back around.

"Dan," She reacted once more. "You know, my Uncle Charlie is part Italian and he's not in the mob. He has a very respectable job."

"What is he?"

"A sports mechanic. He fixes hockey games." She answered innocently and straight-faced as a busty brunette waitress delivered their drinks and a basket of bread. As she produced their salads, the lovely serving girl glanced at Dan, shined to him and slid his salad to him.

"Oh Danny!!!" She dropped into his lap and began sucking on his face. Dan lost sensation to his mouth as Kelly sat shocked with her jaw dropped. The waitress was smooching Dan as he finally realized it and reacted. He pushed the young girl off him and stood as he wiped her lipstick off his mouth.

"Excuse me!!!"

"Danny, it's me, Maria!!!" The brunette jiggled a bit. "Remember how much fun we had in the Statue of Liberty torch?"

"You sure lit my fire." Dan recalled her. "Um, Maria, meet Kelly, my girlfriend." Maria turned and looked at Kelly. Kelly just sat a bit upset and offended and mustered a small wave. Maria stared at her and whirled back to Dan.

"Girlfriend…." Maria scoffed. "Oh, Danny, you're so funny. Look, I'm off work at eleven. Don't let me down…" She growled kittenishly into his ear as he pretended to like it. She nibbled him a bit and departed to do her job as Dan just sat trying to figure out what he was supposed to do. Kelly looked a bit annoyed as he sat back down and looked at her.

"How's your salad?" Dan asked a bit rattled.

"Dan…." Kelly looked across to him. "We've been dating behind Harry's back for two months now, and we've met at least one of your old girlfriends everywhere we've gone. Now, I know I said I didn't care about your past, but this is getting a bit annoying. Just how many old girlfriends do you have?"

"Well," Dan composed himself and exhaled strongly. He blinked several times as he thought before responding. "Let's just say I used to have golden arches above the door to my bedroom." He told her. "I gave everybody a break."

"How many did you hold the pickle for?" Kelly asked with one eyebrow raised.

"Kelly," Dan asserted himself. "That's not who I am anymore. I've changed. My life is here and now. I did a lot of things in my past that are obviously going to come back and haunt me, but now I have you. Everyone else is nothing." He reacted as if he meant it.

"Oh Dan…." She gazed at him lovingly. Her eyes gazed deeply into his brown eyes over their salads as his face beamed to her. His hand took hers as his heart felt light.

"Kelly, you are…."

"Danny!!!!" Another girl across the restraunt cried out as Dan dived under the table. Kelly rolled her eyes a bit annoyed as the tabled buckled a bit. As she kept it from shaking, Capone the maitre'd wandered past for his post and noticed Dan under the table.

"Sir," He gestured like De Niro. "Is something wrong? Is someone trying to whack you?"

CHAPTER TWO

"While I commend you in trying to clean up the neighborhood," Judge Harry T. Stone spoke from his bench during the course of his job in trying civil court matters. "I do think that there has to be a better way." The accused was an old man who looked to be in his eighties. A red bandana over his balding head, he wore a Punisher-style shirt with a skull on it and an empty holster large enough to carry a machine gun. Over his shoulder was a strap full of empty grenade clips from his time being disarmed. Dan played the role of amused Assistant D.A. as Kelly stood by as well as serious-minded career woman.

"Hundred dollar fine, but considering the advanced age of the accused, I'm going to suspend it." Harry pounded his gavel as the old man stood a bit offended. As Roz the bailiff came to escort him out, the mercenary octogenarian glared toward Harry.

"Watch your step, punk, I can still kick butt." He declared. "I fought in Germany."

"World War I?" Harry asked.

"No," The old man answered back. "Honeymoon with the wife." He grinned with great accomplishment as Roz lead him away. Harry signed the old timer's release as Mac hopped up on the bench with another case.

"Shapiro versus Hendricks and Hendricks." He disclosed the next case "Charge, assault and battery and destruction of private property."

Harry perked up to hear the scatting of Torme, but it was being drowned out in a verbal barrage of Manilow lyrics. Bailiff Bull Shannon was dragging out two impersonators. One was a young blonde man in a tuxedo trying to be his idol but the other had a wild-haired brown mane and came out shaking his hips to the tune of Copacobana. Harry perked up at the sight as the two impersonators were trying to outdo each other. Losing his patience as well as his ears, Bull mildly shook the both of then to silence them and stepped aside as Dan perused the case.

"Sir," He started doing his job. "The Copycat Kids here are two brothers who specialize in celebrity impersonations. They were both hired to entertain a party without the knowledge of the other one's presence. Upon discovering each other, they began attacking each other and trashing the Shapiro home where they were being employed."

"Sir," Kelly responded to her cousin Harry professionally. "This is a misunderstanding between the wishes of the husband and wife who hired them, but they do expect the brothers to pay for damages done to their home."

"I ain't paying anything." The Torme looking brother announced. "Anyone who likes Manilow ought to suffer the consequences."

"Yeah," The Manilow brother reacted. "Force them to listen to Torme." He chortled with a deriding laughter as Harry lifted his head and glared a bit upset. The entire courtroom gasped as it knew the truth that the brother didn't know. Kelly tugged the brother to the side and gestured to the back hall. He lifted his eyes and looked into the judge's chambers across the hall. The first thing he saw was the photo of Mel Torme!

"I take it back!!!" He jumped to the judge's stand. "I love Torme! He's the greatest! Why else would he be called the Velvet Frog?"

"That's Velvet Fog!!!" Harry screamed back along with the brother. "I'm ordering you both to pay for damages, but I'm going to suspend criminal charges because one of you is obviously seriously disturbed."

"That's you." The Torme brother replied to his younger brother. Harry's gavel pounded as Mac stood by. Kelly stepped back to check her cases for the night as Dan lounged on the edge of Harry's bench.

"You liked that one." He replied.

"I sure did." Harry answered. "Oh, Dan, Kelly's been going out a lot with this guy that she really likes. Have you heard anything about him from her?"

"What have you heard?" Dan reacted suspiciously.

"Well," Harry tried to pump him for details. "I think she really likes him, but she won't tell me who he is. What do you think that means?" Harry leaned in as Dan narrowed his eyes forming a thought.

"Sounds like he's a really great guy."

"I think she's dating a loser and she's ashamed of him." Harry stood in his robes as he absent-mindedly shook his gavel in his fingers. "I tell you, Dan. I care about Kelly a lot; if anyone ever hurt her…" He glared with a psychotic glare. "I don't know what I'd do." Dan cringed with a little nervous giggle under his breath as Harry pounded for recess. Mac watched as Harry departed and then turned with a conniving grin to Dan. He gazed to Kelly knowingly and then to Dan.

"He doesn't know, does he?" Mac revealed.

"And he can't know…" Dan replied as Mac snapped his fingers and held out his hand. Dan grumbled at the extortion, pulled out his wallet and slapped Mac with a hundred dollar bill to buy his silence. Mac just shined at the gratuity.

"Thanks for putting my kids through school." He turned to Kelly. "Kelly, message from Human services." He handed her the message and turned out of the courtroom. The blonde one shined a bit as she placed aside a case and read the note. Dan grumbled toward Mac's direction as Kelly lost her breath.

"Problem." Dan asked her.

"Yes," She died a bit inside. "They're moving me to Judge Crockett's courtroom. Harry's new public defender arrives tomorrow."

CHAPTER THREE

Mack had had the chance to be a lawyer. In fact, he had the potential to be a great lawyer, but he preferred to stay the path of a simple court clerk. The work wasn't as hectic and his time was his own. With his wife bringing home the big bucks as an interior decorator, he truly felt his years of financial worry to be over. Plus, he wanted to be around when Harry found out Kelly and Dan.

"Not there?" Bull talked on the phone in Harry's office oblivious to Mac's entry. "Have you checked the dryer? How about the closet?"

"Amanda lose her car keys?" Mac asked.

"No, the baby…" Bull remarked. "What? Where was he? The crib? What the heck was he doing there?!!"

"Bull, off the phone" Harry marched in with his robe flapping ahead of Kelly and Dan.

"Sure," Bull signed off with his wife and turned to Harry. "Problem?"

"Major screw up…." Harry took his phone, clicked the receiver and began dialing for human services. "Those people do not know who they are messing with."

"Harry," Kelly reacted demurely distraught. "I just got used to being here. I don't want to leave. There's a guy here I really like." She stole a look to Dan as the tall assistant district attorney beamed to her like a love-struck schoolboy.

"Who is this guy?" Harry looked to Kelly as he dialed the phone.

"Harry," Kelly giggled with a child-like little chuckle. "Girls don't kiss and tell."

"Kelly," Harry glared at her a bit. "You used to do this when we were kids. It was aggravating then and it's a lot more aggravating now…" He got a response on the phone as he lifted the receiver. "What?" He talked to voices unheard by Mac, Bull, Dan and Kelly. "Yes, this is Judge Stone. I'd like to know why you are replacing my public defender. What's the reason for this?" Harry fell silent as his attention was diverted from Kelly and Dan holding hands. As Harry started to turn round, they caught themselves just in time and let go of each other.

"Uh huh," Harry paced a bit with his phone. "And who decided to arrange the transfers? Uh huh…. Uh huh…."

"Uh huh…." Mac reacted just to stay alert. Harry stood a second silently listening to reasons as he looked at Dan then made a face of disappointment. He started to lightly hang up the phone.

"Well," Dan asked first.

"The district attorney's office has decided to start shifting public defenders around instead of keeping them assigned to individual courtrooms." He replied. "The decision was made because some of the attorneys and defenders are getting too friendly in arranging settlements in some cases."

"It's not true!" Dan cracked under the pressure. "I barely touched her!!!" He froze as Harry and Bull looked at him. Mac started grinning at him. Kelly slapped her forehead as a gesture of surprise.

"Dan," Harry sidled up and stood beside him. "The district attorney in Judge Fischer's office promised to drop charges in a theft case in order to buy a boat from their public defender." He looked Dan in the eyes as he removed his robes. "Look, we'll resume a court a little late. I want to go talk to Christine about this." He pulled on his jacket and hat as he started out then hesitated and looked back.

"You know, " He started matter of factly. "For just a second, I thought you and Kelly were fooling around, but then I thought…. You and Kelly?" He cringed with a creepy reverberation though his body and tried to shake the images out of his head. He made a look of grossed out disgust then turned away with a mission on his mind.

"You're a dead man." Mac grinned to Dan.

CHAPTER FOUR

Judge Christine Sullivan-Stone sat looking bored in her chair as District Attorney Victor Daniels bobbed out of her view. The man was just barely three feet tall and when he got to close to her, he disappeared completely from her courtroom. Claire Huxtable sat in the defendant's behalf as Daniels ended one tirade only to start another.

"Your honor," Mrs. Huxtable stood. "I object. The witness in question may have a reputation of alcohol use, but she was cold sober at the event of the murders. I still wish to place her on the stand."

"A ruling in the admissible of this testimony, your honor?" Daniels' voice came out of thin air to Christine's ears. Christine just sighed a bit and sipped her water as she looked toward Mrs. Huxtable then to the top of her diminutive D.A's head.

"I want some time to review Detective Sipowitz's notes." Christine picked up a file before hitting her gavel. "Twenty minute recess." She pounded it and turned to step down as everyone rose. Tugging at her judge's robes, Christine turned for her quarters as her husband stood waiting for her.

"Harry," She kissed him as she pulled open her robe like an inexperienced stripper. "Tony didn't get into more trouble in school, did he?"

"I frisked him for cards and dice when I dropped him off." Harry paused before her chambers. "Look, human services has suddenly decided to start moving around the public defenders through the civil courts and I know you still have a good influence with your old bosses. I was wondering….. You got a TV in your chambers!!!!" Harry became distracted.

"It was a birthday gift from Juliani." Christine revealed as she stood like a goddess above her view of the city outside her window. "Harry, what's the matter?"

"Wow, color and cable ready…." Harry remained fascinated by the twenty-inch screen as she imagined watching his Torme DVDs on it. "Picture within a picture…. Auto-select…."

"Harry!" Christine dropped her file on to her desk.

"Christine," Harry stared at her as a man on a mission. "I care about Kelly. I like having her in my courtroom to look after her. I don't want to worry about her moving through the separate courtrooms."

"Harry," Christine sat in her chair and lifted her file to peruse it. "Kelly is a big girl. She can take care of herself as well as I did when I was starting out."

"How many times were you mugged when you were starting out?" Harry asked as Christine disgustedly looked back at him.

"Christine," Harry continued. "Kelly is a lot more than a distant cousin to me. She's my best friend and I care about her. I want her back in my court." He listened as his wife groaned defeatedly and relented.

"I'll see what I can do." Christine gave in as her phone rang on her desk "But I'm not promising anything…… Judge Sullivan's office." She answered her phone.

"That's all I ask for." Harry caressed her hand lovingly as he started to turn out. Christine talked to someone on the phone as he got only a few feet from her and then was called back.

"Harry!"

"Yes," He looked back through her door.

"You got to go by the school again." She looked at him disgustedly. "Our son has been matching quarters." She looked at him with the same aggravated look she had the other times Tony copied his antics.

PART FIVE

"Harry," Dan marched into Harry's quarters. It was a new day and he had not seen Kelly to discuss the cases on the docket. After the message yesterday, he feared Kelly had been moved after all.

"I have not seen Kelly." Dan continued. "She did not come to my office for briefing. We usually plea bargain the small cases out of court, but now we're going to have to cover all of them and I've got a date after court."

"Dan," Harry buttoned his robe. "Christine promised she'd fix things. Don't worry. Kelly's been late before."

"Ready, sir?" Bull appeared in the door.

"Yeah."

"I hope so." Dan fretted and composed himself. "I'm used to Kelly. We've got a timing thing down, and I don't want to deal with a wet behind the ears lawyer from human services. They take too long to train."

"Dan…" Harry shook his head as Dan marched out first acting like a spoiled child looking to cause trouble. Bull shrugged at the spectacle and marched out ahead of Harry in perfect sync. The big bald bailiff took his place as Harry waited outside the courtroom.

"All rise," He replied the same thing he said everyday as he tried not to notice Kelly's empty seat. "Criminal Court Part two now starting, the honorable… And very fair…" He added with a guileless grin. "Judge Harry T. Stone presiding."

The first thing Harry noticed was the absence of Kelly in his court. Dan noticed it and gave him a long look of anxiety. Mac nervously shuffled papers as Roz watched Bull. The big hulking bailiff passed Kelly's empty seat on his way to his place in the courtroom, paused and let loose with a long bawling cry resembling the wail of a beached whale. Harry had to blink a few times at the prospect then heard the fracas entering the court.

"I'm coming, I'm coming…" A diminutive blue-eyed brunette raced in with loose files and a briefcase swinging. She let loose with an avalanche of papers on to Kelly's table and swirled around to do her job. Harry was shocked as a lump came to his throat. Dan became speechless as the Shannen Doherty look-alike composed herself and beamed with a inner light toward Harry.

"Shelley Daugherty, human services," She reached to shake Harry's hand. "Sorry, I'm late, your honor, but I've never been on this floor before. I'll be here for the rest of the month."

Bull moaned in pain again as Roz looked at him.

"I don't see Jacques Cousteau; you can stop doing that." She told him.

"Good to meet you." Harry tried to remain cordial although his heart was breaking. "I hope you'll like it here." He turned to look at Dan looking forlorn and then to Mac stepping up with cases.

"First case, sir," He announced. "LaDonna Boquet, prostitution." Things started as usual as a recognized blonde peeked in from the hall behind the judge's bench. Kelly longed to be in there as she watched Daugherty doing her job and standing in her place. Her feelings hurt, her ego tempered by annoyance, she watched the happenings from a far as the petite but busty African American hooker was lead out. Dan couldn't help but look at Boquet's cosmetically enhanced forty-inch bust practically jutting a foot out from her chest. Held up by a leather bustier, the bosom of the Janet Jackson clone looked as if it was about to explode before the court in a recreation of the CBS disaster.

"Those things come with instructions?" Dan rolled his eyes away unable to look away. It was like a car accident. He didn't want to look, but he couldn't turn away. "Sir, this is Boquet's thirty-second time in this court. We're asking for full fines this time."

"Defense?"

"She throws herself on the mercy of the court." Dougherty replied.

"That's my catch phrase!" Kelly hissed silently as she watched from the hall. Before her, Harry exhaled tiredly and dejectedly as he sunk back into his chair.

"Ladonna, LaDonna, LaDonna…"

"Harry, Harry, Harry….." Boquet had always known him to be fair.

"I thought you were getting out of this."

"Well," Boquet grinned with a jiggle from her cleavage. "I got the girls done again and I had to show them off!" She grinned with a delighted giggle. Harry just shook his head tiredly and picked up his gavel.

"Five hundred dollar fine and time served." He rapped his gavel as Roz stepped forth to lead Boquet away. As Dan turned, Shelley checked him out with a scant glance. Kelly noticed the look and dropped her jaw in jealous hostility.

"Next up, the People versus Spenser, Collins, Walsh and Jackson, vandalism and destruction of city property." Mac replied as four teenage girls strolled out into the courtroom. The blonde one with long curly hair was hiding behind her African American friend and her other friend with red hair. Dougherty looked at her file then back toward the teenager with red hair.

"Your name's Brenda Walsh?" She realized. "Why does that name sound so familiar?" Her eyes rolled back and forth as she tried to figure it out.

"Sir," Dan looked at his file. "The teenage terrorists here tried to steal a department story mannequin, but in trying to abscond with it, it crashed out of their hands and through the windshield of a parked patrol car. The store isn't going to prosecute because the manager just happens to be the father of one of the girls, but there's still the matter of the patrol car."

"Ladies, ladies…" Harry sat tired of the delinquent teens that came through his court. "What in the world would you want with a….." He paused with a flinch of curious recollection as he recognized the curly-haired blonde. "Excuse me, but don't I know you?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Aren't you William and Ally Collins's daughter?"

"Hey…." Susan Spenser bumped Maddie. "He knows your parents!" She grinned as Maddie died a bit from the embarrassment. Everyone looked upon her as Harry realized he couldn't try the case over personal connections to the case.

"Held over." He pounded his gavel and gestured Maddie to come closer. "Your parents are going to have a conniption over this."

"It wasn't my idea." Maddie screeched. "Susan wanted the mannequin!"

"Keep me out of this!"

As the girls bickered, Dougherty checked Dan out again and recalled on stories of his sexual exploits. Wondering if they were true, she looked him over and tried to picture him before turning to her seat. As she did, she noticed Kelly in the hallway trying to get her attention. As Harry dickered with the teenagers off the record, she wandered out of the way to talk to her.

"Hey, Kelly," She grinned. "I got your courtroom. You don't have a problem with that, do you?"

"No, course not." Kelly lit up like her best friend then punched her across the jaw as Shelley dropped to the lime green floor.

"But that's for Dan! He's mine!!" She looked up to see if anyone was watching. Roz escorted Maddie Collins and the teenage girls to the commissary as Harry looked for Shelly.

"Where's defense?" He requested as Kelly hurriedly jogged up, grabbed the next case and stood at the ready. She turned with a delighted flourish to her best friend and secret boyfriend.

"Ready, Harry!" She perked up like a blonde Mary Poppins. "I've got forty minutes before I have to get back to Judge Crockett's courtroom."

"Kelly?" Harry was ecstatic to see her, but equally confused. Mac stood by watching speechless. Dan wanted to grab and kiss her, but he couldn't do anything like that before Harry without him realizing the two of them as an item.

"Kelly, where's Shelley?" Harry wondered.

"Out." Kelly stood ready to do her job. "Forty minutes to do my job."

"Kelly!"

"Harry!" Kelly caved upset and distraught. "I can't go back to Judge Crockett!" She pulled him close by his tie. "The man smells like Vaseline!!!"

"Could be worse." Dan leaned into the bench. "He used to smell like cat litter."

"Kelly…." Harry really felt for her emotions. "I'm sorry. I really, really am, but I can't do anything. My hands are tied."

"What kind of judge are you?!" Kelly snapped more than upset at him. "I thought you said I was your favorite cousin!"

"You are." Harry glared back at her. "But sometimes arrangements are made that I have no power over. I have to accept that. Besides, you'll be shifted back in here with a month."

"But only temporarily…." Kelly whined like a little kid. "Harry, I like it here. I want back full time!"

"Harry," Dan straightened the front of his suit as he leaned forward. "I want Kelly back too. I do not want to deal with a revolving door of incompetents just when I finally get used to decent public defender."

"My hands are tied." Harry repeated himself.

"Fine!" Kelly pouted like a little kid. "Apparently, you don't care for me as much as you used to…."

"Kelly…." Harry's heart broke at that comment.

"If you want me," Kelly reacted with an attitude. "I'll be holding my nose in Judge Crocket's court."

"You're in luck if you get in Judge Wilbur's Court." Mac grinned. "Her court smells like pine since they refurbished it." She beamed with his big steel-like grin. Kelly just held her head up with her nose up in the air and marched out the same way she did when she was a little girl. Marching out, she partially pasted Shelley in the hall pulling herself up off the floor. The two would-be friends looked at each other as rivals.

"You even touch Dan and they won't find enough of you to bury." She hissed a bit and marched on. Brenda just staggered a bit, took a deep breath as she supported herself on the wall and stumbled into the courtroom holding her jaw.

"Mrs. Dougherty," Harry and everyone else were watching her. "Are you all right? Can you finish the session?"

"Oh yeah, sure…." She moved and tried to sense pains in her jaw as took her place was more. Another client was being escorted out as Mac announced the man.

"Dylan McKay, sir," He produced the file. "Drunk and disorderly."

The Luke Perry clone slipped in around Dan and looked up to Harry. His glance meanwhile made him to turn to look and take a better look at the attractive brunette, blue-eyed public defender protecting his rights.

"Brenda?!!!!" He thought he recognized her.

PART SIX

At six o'clock, Judge Stone's court usually broke for dinner. Dan moved with slower step not having Kelly nearby to escort him through the line and recommend his eating habits. She always helped watch his carbohydrates and the amounts he took as she guided his health. After becoming dependant on her, he felt a bit lost and forlorn as a young boy without his best friend. He reflected on some of the facets of himself he had shared with Kelly and even on some of the stories she had regaled him of her life growing up. He could see why she and Harry were so close, and he felt lucky to have become that close as well, but without her, it felt as if there was a big chunk missing out of his life.

"So," Dan maneuvered slowly to an empty seat between Shelley and Harry at their usual table. "How do you like your first day in Casa de Stone?"

"I like it." Shelley confessed as she stirred sugar into her coffee. "Things move much quicker and much more lively. You know, Judge Stanley's court can get so dead in there at times."

"Well," Roz replied knowing the building as she did. "His courtroom is just above the morgue in the basement."

"Yeah," Harry sipped his coffee. "We got trapped in there during a fire."

"That was an election day, right?" Shelley bit into her tuna sandwich and turned to Dan. "You were running for councilman and lost to a dead man!"

Dan continued staring into space as he pictured a studio audience laughing at his life. Able to laugh at it now, he forced a simple painful grin, postured a bit with a turn of his head and looked toward Dougherty with estranged derision.

"I lost to a dead man." He confirmed it. "I can't believe that's still floating around the building."

"I lost a dead man." Bull grinned simply and proudly. "He was in a wheel chair and ended up rolling all over the building before I finally caught him." He fondly reflected upon it as if it was his greatest achievement. Dougherty looked back at him as if he was a big kid who had spoken out of turn. Roz reached over and felt Bull's bald head.

"Just about ripe…" She felt the tip of the ridge on Bull's head and looked with surprise to the others. Bull reacted with offense to that and stood up taking his lunchbox and hoagie with him. Roz watched him as she lifted up with her tray to depart as well as Dan lightly sighed thinking about Kelly.

"What about all those stories of your sexual exploits in the building?" Shelley looked to Dan. "Are they true?"

"Oh yeah…. man… the stuff he did…." Harry and Mac began talking together and drowning each other out with tall tales of their own as Dan turned to them. Rather than have them stretch the truth, he glared at them annoyed and cleared his throat loudly to drown them out. It only took a moment for them to get the idea before Harry and Mac rose and departed the table. Left abandoned, Dan turned to Shelley with a sip from his coffee mug.

"Um, yes…" Dan swallowed the last of his cup as he stared into it. "You see, I'm not really proud of that stuff. It's just that I realized a long time ago that I didn't really like myself and I often thrust myself into deviant desires as some sort of twisted and psychological way of dealing with the conflict. I'm over that stuff. I've been dating this girl I really care about for about a month and I've actually come to terms about a lot of things." He exhaled a bit as he talked. "She's proven to be the best thing for me and now I'm afraid I might be losing her."

"She must be really special." Shelley characteristically out of habit placed her hand on Dan's as Kelly walked to court outside the commissary with District Attorney Paul Sloane. He walked on as Kelly froze, noticed Dan and Shelly sitting together with their hands touching and then clutched at the glass and watched like Garfield in the back window of a car. A seething torrent of hate and jealousy overwhelmed her as she realized she could not trust Dougherty to stay away from Dan. She trusted Dan explicitly but she did not trust Dougherty.

"She is really special." Dan beamed as Kelly unseen raged. "She's so unlike everyone I've ever been with. Smart, and loving and devoted…."

"It's hard to find someone like that." Shelley replied as Kelly pictured her head ripped from her shoulders.

"I've finally come to realize that." Dan answered.

"I'm going to peruse this evening's cases." Shelley rose as she gave characteristically gave Dan a platonic kiss not realizing it infuriated Kelly all the more. "See you in court." She dumped her trash away with one hand and finished her sandwich as she turned round. Dusting off her hands by lightly clapping them together, she stepped into the corridor outside the commissary as she felt Kelly's hands choking her. Gagging on the loss of air, she felt her body lifted off the floor.

"Mac," Harry stood by the front of the commissary line as he talked to his court clerk. "Before court, I'm going to speak once more to Human Services. There has to be a way to get Kelly back in my courtroom."

"You do that…" Mac saw Shelley fighting for her life outside the glass. "Oh my dear lord!!!" Shelley clung to the windows around the commissary as Kelly launched an elbow drop on her.

"What's up?" Harry nearly turned round but Mac stopped him.

"Sir!!" Mac grinned as if nothing was happening and kept Harry distracted from seeing the fracas. "You can't see Public Services with mustard on your collar. You better run to the restrooms and clean that up!"

"Mustard." Harry reacted distantly to the reality behind him as Mac quickly nudged Dan and the two of them rushed to stop Kelly. Harry just remained distracted in dabbing his collar with a napkin to clean up the mustard from his dinner.

"I wonder if I got it." He dabbed his collar as Dan and Kelly talked beyond earshot. Gasping for air, Shelley crawled the outside length of the commissary for the exit near Harry and pulled herself up with her hair askew and her blouse hanging open to her bra. Leaning back to the doorframe, she fought to catch her breath as Harry walked out and noticed her.

"Mrs. Dougherty." He looked briefly at her cleavage. "If you're going to work in my courtroom, I'm going to suggest a more professional attire." He moved on as she gasped trying to tell him what had happened. Reacting with disbelief, she held her chest trying to recatch her breath, noticed the vagrants in the hall looking at her and then finally collapsed.

PART SEVEN

Kelly stood professionally doing her job as she listened to Judge Crockett droning on. She reacted a bit as if she was going into shock or being lulled to boredom to his unending talk as she partially staggered a bit by her client's side.

"…Of course in a truly civilized and rational society, we cannot have the kind of anarchy that continues when the young people of today flout the law by doing as they see fit." The words slowly poured dryly as dust from a deserted well. Monotony and boredom settled as Kelly wished for Harry's spirit to speed up the proceedings by kicking the old white haired octogenarian off the bench. "We have to have a set of laws otherwise…."

"For the love of God…" The accused finally snapped. "I will never rob another fast food place again if you just get me the hell out of here!"

Judge Crockett looked at the bald young man with the head tattoos then toward Kelly drifting to sleep. His D.A. was playing a mini-computer game and several of the people watching court had stretched out to go to sleep. He finally picked up his gavel.

"Held over." He pounded it. "Hour for lunch." He pounded it again as another bailiff led off the bandit. Kelly turned disgusted and dispirited as she dropped to her seat and placed her head in her hands. She wanted to cry, but she was too tired. Her feet were blistered from the standing and her eyes weary from the long hours. She had wanted to be a lawyer to help people, but this was cruel behavior to drag out then sentencing. Felling sorry for herself, she yawned deeply as she scratched her neck. Someone stroked the top of her head tenderly.

"Hands off, pal, unless you want… Dan!" She looked up to his beaming face and jumped with renewed vigor to his arms. He kissed the nape of her neck in the middle of the deserted courtroom as she held him tightly by the waist. She grinned ear to ear up to him.

"Hi," Dan held her romantically. "Harry wrapped for the night. You want to get some dinner?"

"I thought you already ate?"

"I'm still hungry." He locked around Crockett's green wood-paneled courtroom. "So, how are you doing?"

"Dan," Kelly pulled free and paced as another lost soul. "I'm miserable. Harry has got to get me out of here. I can't take another evening with Crusty, the dried up dead man."

"Harry tells me the wheels are in motion." He postured a bit with a turn of his head as he stepped through the small gate that separated the lawyers from the spectators. He leaned back on to his counterpart's table.

"Kelly," He began again. "You've only been practicing law in Manhattan for a few weeks. There is red tape for just about everything. If something works, the city just has to destroy it. You just might have to understand… we might not get to work with each other again." He gazed back at her as she stood before him.

"I'll quit being a lawyer to be near you, Dan." She pulled him close as he wrapped his arms around her. She sighed deeply as he shared her emotions. "You hug me just like Harry used to."

"I try for the best." Dan held her tight as he realized a feeling he'd never experienced before. His heart was breaking.

PART EIGHT

Wednesday usually meant that the staff was almost till the weekend. Dan usually started making plans for the weekend, but now he wondered if he should. Bull played checkers with Mac using Harry's chess pieces as they waited for Shelley Dougherty to arrive to start court. Two days on the job, the cute brunette still seemed to have a hard time finding her way around.

"If she's not here in ten minutes," Harry stood up straight after sitting on his desk. "I'm going to shut down court for the day. There's no excuse for this level of tardiness."

"Hi guys," Christine walked in, acknowledged her old friends and paused to give Harry a kiss.

"Close enough," Roz looked up. "Let's get started."

"Christine," Harry stepped back as he turned judicial minded. "Have you seen Shelley? She's twenty minutes late."

"Harry, she left Manhattan." Christine revealed with her arms folded across her chest. "Something about it being safer for her. Whatever that means, but I am here to escort your new public defender." She got a loud groan from the room.

"Come on, guys," Christine continued. "I think you'll like her. She hasn't been practicing law long, but she's really good." She watched as Mac reacted noncommittally and Dan turned back to the window. Roz stood in place bracing for the worst of it as Bull mugged a bit. Harry picked up his framed Mel Torme picture.

"Mel, where are you when I need you!" He told it.

"Harry, give her a chance." Christine waved the girl in as Kelly scooted in excitedly. A big grin across her face, there was a stunned look of surprise as everyone became taken aback.

"Kelly Anderson for the defense!" Kelly perked up as Dan and Harry reached to hug her ahead of everyone else. Bull crushed the three of them in a huge bear hug as Mac grinned his steely grin and mildly entered the happy bonding of the others. Roz waited for the pack to spread out while she warmly became a part of it.

"Christine," Harry was struck speechless. "How did you do this? How did…"

"I just pointed out to the board of the extra paperwork that would be required to rotate the defense lawyers." Christine shined to make her favorite people happy. "And they agreed. Plus, I had to pull a few strings."

"Where'd Shelley move to anyway?" Mac asked the question.

"I heard a rumor she left for private practice in a Boston law firm." Kelly lightly bobbed her head as she answered.

"Boston." Roz lightly snarled as she cocked her head. "Who wants to live in Boston?"

"I've been down this road walking the line that's been painted by pride…." Bull lifted his head and started singing a TV theme song very earnestly and faithfully as his voice could allow. "I've made mistakes in my life that I cannot hide…" He slowly became aware of everyone looking at him. He turned his head left and right at the faces looking at him.

"I can't be the only one who misses that show!" He declared as a loyal and avid jilted couch potato.

"Come on, guys," Harry felt like a huge kid. "We got cases to try!" He paused to give Kelly a kiss. "Welcome back!"

"Thanks, Harry." She shined back as Dan waited to be alone with her. Mac paused as everyone else wandered out then picked up a piece of paper from Harry's desk.

"This is for the public defender." He smiled. "That would be you."

"That's me." Kelly beamed again as he gave her a peck and slipped out. As he departed, Kelly turned and looked again at Dan. Their eyes locked on each other as they embraced tightly and closed their lips over each other. Dan felt her fingers through his hair as her breath gasped in his ear.

"No more heartache." He told her.

"No more heartache." She confirmed as she read the note Mac had left her. She scanned over it with just a second as her breath groaned from the news.

"No…" She moaned disappointedly.

"Don't tell me." Dan froze as he stared at her. He stared at her for almost a full ten seconds. "I can't read your mind. What is it?"

"From here on now," Kelly nearly read it word for word. "There will no longer be any more fraternizing off court hours between court employees except where approved by the judicial review. No court employees will be permitted in non-court related business except where approved."

"What?" Dan stepped back. "You mean…. Not only do we have to hide out relationship from Harry but from everyone else?"

Kelly silently nodded her head. She looked at him as he realized what it would take out of them.

"I can do that." He suddenly realized and pulled her close as he kicked the door shut to Harry's chambers.

END


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